In Danger and In Love
by cm757
Summary: You need to say it, right here, right now. Say the words. Because then, it'll be too late.
1. Chapter 1

**In Danger and In Love**

**Authors note: Hey guys! So... yeah, I'm crazy. Hope you enjoy my craziness nonetheless, okay? This was just a little something that was stuck in my head, something I'm not planning to extend for too long, don't worry. And thank you so much for all the alerts/favs/reviews I got for my stories, it really gets me going. Leave a review if you can, okay sugars?**

**Hope you like it!**

…**..**

"We can't."

The words resonate through the room, hanging heavy in the air as they both take them in, in silence, without saying anything. Kono shifts slightly, pushing away from him to look up at his face, the dark lines under his eyes clear even in the dim light of the room.

"Why?"

She knows she shouldn't be asking this, knows they've gone down this road a thousand times, knows there's no point in bringing it up again, but the words leave her mouth nonetheless, and she isn't all that surprised when Steve sighs and lays on his back next to her, lips pursed into a thin line.

"Kono-"

"No, I know." She cuts him off, laying her head on the pillow. "It just feels wrong. Keeping it from them."

He frowns, turning his head towards her.

"Because they're like family." She clarifies, staring into his deep blue eyes. "I just don't wanna hide anymore."

He closes his eyes, exhaling slowly and turns on his side, holding himself up on his elbow. "But we have to."

"Why?"

"Kono."

"Just-" she huffs, shaking her head. She looks down. "You're right. You're right."

His stomach churns unpleasantly at the sight of her, his arms coming to wrap around her body with a practiced ease, pulling her towards him. "You ok?"

"Yeah." She answers promptly, closing her eyes and moving closer to him. "I'm okay."

They spend a while like that, wrapped up in each other in the darkness and quiet of the room, until she speaks up again. "Do you regret it?"

She always asks the toughest questions.

Does he regret it? How the hell should he know? He wasn't the only one involved here.

It's such a loaded question that he takes his time, going through every possible scenario in his head, but of course, he ends up going for the truth, coincidentally the only scenario that might get him in trouble.

"Yes."

She arches an eyebrow at him, lifting her head. "What?"

He looks back at her, totally impassive and he isn't even trying to take it back.

"You regret this? All of this?" she asks, motioning in the general direction of their bodies and the pile of discarded clothes next to the bed, her voice rising slightly.

He swallows, eyes unrelenting. "If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have done it."

Somebody please tell her he's just trying to get slapped.

She scoffs, almost laughs, even, and is pushing him away and making a move to get up in a second.

He's quicker than her, though, grabbing her arm and throwing her back in the bed. "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" she throws back with a biting edge, struggling against the arm pinning her to her place. "I'm going home."

He glares at her, grip tightening on her arm. "You're so fucking insufferable."

Her hand is already midway through the air to hit him square in the face when she feels his weight shift and he's suddenly above her, hands on her shoulders to make sure she doesn't move despite her efforts to throw him off her.

She glares right back at him, an angry fire burning in her eyes. "Well, if I'm so fucking _insufferable_ then, why don't you let me go home and forget about this whole damn thing, _Commander_?"

He clenches his jaw so hard he's afraid he might break it.

"I said," he starts, completely ignoring her. "If I _could_ go back in time, I wouldn't have done it." He stops, hands gripping her shoulders slightly harder when she tries to struggle. He continues to glare. "I never said I wanted to go back in time, _did_ I?"

Her eyes are still hard, but he sees the littlest bit of confusion creeping in. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," _you hard headed woman,_ he wants to add, but for the sake of coming out of this argument alive, doesn't, "that I regret starting this. Because now I _know_ I'm not gonna be able to stop." He shakes his head with a sneer. "Or go back in time. But even if I could do it all over again and not fuck my subordinate, I'm not sure I'd want to go back. Do you s_ee_ my point now?"

The air around them is thick, heavy with unspoken words and anxiety. She's still staring at him, big, silent brown eyes locking with his and the grip he has on her shoulders loosens momentarily, only for her to have him on his back in the next second.

It's exactly in _these_ moments, where she surprises him and goes all kickass – in bed - on him, where he _knows_ he wouldn't be able to go back.

"That's-" she pauses, pursing her lips, her full weight on top of him to make sure he stays where he is. "Not exactly sweet. But since we've all figured out you're too fucking scared to let someone in your life because you're afraid they'll disappear in the air the next moment, I'll settle for that."

And since he really doesn't know what else to do when she's all up in his face, the teasing tone back in her voice and her eyes full of mirth and warm and _home, _he kisses her. Hard.

Because somehow, she can always know more about him than himself.

He feels the tension leaving her body, the hand that isn't already buried in her hair moving to the small of her back, pressing her down onto him. Kono giggles.

"Seriously?" she mumbles against his lips, letting herself get rolled over onto her back.

"Well," he kisses her again, pulling back almost immediately. "It's been over an hour."

The room isn't so quiet after that.

…

"Hey! Where were you?"

"None of your business, Daniel." Steve answers, making his way to his office.

Danny's eyebrows shoot up. "None of my business?" he laughs sarcastically. "Oh boy, now that's rich. Exactly, like you flying off to Japan without telling anyone isn't my business, or you leaving us alone to rule this place isn't my business, or-"

"Danny." Steve cuts him off, sighing around his coffee. "What do you want?"

Danny stops rambling, squinting his eyes at him. "You are late."

"It's not the first time." Steve reminds him.

"Well, the other time you were late you got an unexpected, quite unpleasant nightly visit from five ninjas in black masks, and I'm pretty sure that didn't happen today."

Steve rolls his eyes, walking through the door to his office with Danny close on his heels. "No, it didn't."

"Ok." Danny acknowledges, waiting for Steve to sit down to continue. "So. Why are you late?"

Steve purses his lips, looks towards Danny with annoyance written all over his face. "I overslept."

Danny laughs. "That's good, coming from the man who gets up before the fucking sun."

Steve sighs, placing his coffee on the desk and turning on the computer. "Danny, I overslept, end of story."

Danny nods, looking down at his feet. He tilts his head. "Did you oversleep with someone?"

He's not surprised when a pen comes flying his way.

"Hey guys." Chin steps into the office, file in hand. "We got a case."

Danny holds the ramble off for the sake of their duty. Thank God for small miracles.

….

"A man gets shot in your bar and you didn't see anything?" Steve raises an eyebrow suspiciously, eyeing the bartender.

"No." she shakes her head. "The only thing I heard was the gun-shot and then everyone rushing to leave the bar. This is gonna be really bad for business." She nods, looking at Kono as if she's waiting for Kono to back up her theory.

"Ok, then." Kono says in a not so friendly tone.

"Give us a call if you remember anything." Steve says and gives her the card.

The fucking Barbie behind the counter gets a sudden glint in her eyes. "This your number?"

Kono raises an eyebrow. Uh-oh.

"Yeah." Steve answers, showing no signs of wanting to clarify further. "Like I said, give us a call."

"Can I give _you_ a call?" Lani, they eventually find out is the bartender's name, asks with a bite of her lip.

_Oh please. Someone shoot her._

Steve's eyebrows shoot up, casting a confused glance at Kono. "Uh, yeah."

"You know, you should stop by sometime." Lani continues, smiling sweetly. Kono has to contain a snort. "Maybe we can meet up after my shift. You single?"

_Oh, honey, are you fucking serious?_

"Yes, I am, but if you don't mind, we have work to do." Steve says with finality, and they're already halfway out the door when _Lani_ realizes what just happened.

Outside, though, is kind of a different story.

"Are you kidding me?" Kono asks as soon as they're out of range, making him turn around to look at her.

"What?" he asks back, genuinely confused.

"What the hell happened back there?" Kono furrows her brow, and for fuck's sake, she can't understand why she's acting like a hysterical girlfriend who just found her guy in bed with someone else.

Steve frowns. "You were there, I'm pretty sure you saw me turn her down."

Kono blinks at him, as if she's so stunned she can't even talk. "You're single?"

There's a moment of silence between the two before Steve scoffs, looking away from her. "So that's what this is about."

"You're single?" she repeats, almost a squeak this time.

"Kono," Steve starts with a warning tone, looking her deep in the eyes. "Let it go."

"What-"

"Kono." He says again, with a little more edge to it. "This_**isn't**_ the time."

She wants to kill him. She wants to fucking kill him.

She walks past him and towards their car, getting in her seat and buckling up, waiting for him to get in so they can leave. She sees him hesitate before sighing and climbing up to his seat, starting the car and driving away.

Despite the constant glances he throws her way throughout the drive back to HQ, she remains silent, jaw tense and mouth pressed into a thin line.

….

"Hey." Danny greets, halting to a stop at the smart table. "Everything ok?"

Kono cats a sidelong glance at Steve, who still seems totally focused on whatever he's looking over, and nods back at Danny. "Yeah. Everything's fine."

Danny raises an eyebrow. "Ok. Good." He goes to stand on the edge of the table, waving a file over in his hand. "We got a suspect. Mr. John Taylor. Our victim, Henry Watson, owed Mr. John twenty thousand dollars." Danny grins. "Hell of a motive, huh?"

Kono raises her eyebrows. "Yeah. Why did he even owe him that kind of money?"

"Gambling." Danny says, looking between the two. "I'm guessing Taylor here got a little tired of waiting."

"Yeah," Steve interrupts, walking over to Danny and grabbing the file out of his hand. "Good thing we can prove he was in the bar."

"Wait, how did you know the cameras caught Taylor?"

"Chin called me," Steve answers, already grabbing his gun from the table and ignoring the raised eyebrow he gets from Kono. "I was just waiting for you to get here. I'm going to the suspect's last known address, see if we get anything."

Danny nods. "You need back up?"

"No, I'm going in alone. Call me if anything comes up." Steve calls back, and then he disappears behind the elevator's door.

Danny purses his lips. "He doesn't seem very happy."

Kono looks at him sideways before turning back to the smart table. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Sounds tense. Curt. Sharp. The Navy SEAL Steve, not the usual aneurism Steve." Danny explains, hands already waving around.

Kono suppresses a laugh.

"Did Catherine stop by?"

"No." Kono says, and tries not to blush at the speed she says it with.

"Oh, ok. I'll just ask him when he gets here."

Kono nods but doesn't say anything further.

Danny's already walking out when he stops and calls her name. "You sure you're ok?"

Kono musters a smile. "Yeah brah. Don't worry."

"Brah? Really?"

"Would you prefer _haole_?"

Danny laughs. "I got it water woman. Let me know if Chin calls, ok?"

"Ok."

The sound of his office door closing is the last thing heard before the HQ suddenly turns very quiet.

….

The whole neighborhood looks bad. Houses decaying, guys looking at him like a hawk when they notice the badge, girls on the corner giving him a (kind of scary, really) onceover. It creeps him out.

He should have talked to Kono. A shill runs up his spine at the thought that's she's probably mad as fuck at him right now. He does not want to face angry Kono.

Last time that happened, she didn't talk to him for a week and a half. And there were one too many coffee accidents that required him to go back to his house to change shirts.

He shakes his head. Not the time to think about it. Steve checks the GPS on his phone. This is the house.

It looks abandoned. The roof is one step away from collapsing, he's sure, and the door looks like it would be blown off its hinges by a small breeze.

He frowns, and the gun's drawn and in his hand in a second. He looks around, eyes hard and focused, and climbs the three steps that lead to the porch, carefully. Once there, something stops him in his tracks.

He crouches down; alert to everything around him before he eyes the drops near the wooden bench.

Blood.

His finger tightens on the trigger, getting up in no time and ready to enter the house.

The idea for backup doesn't even cross his mind.

It should have.

"Commander!"

He has exactly one second to turn around before he feels something hit his head full force. And then everything goes black.

**TBC…**

**Authors note: Been a while since I've left a chapter in a cliffhanger. Hope you liked this, and see you in the next chapter!**

**Thanks a bunch to Sidalee, Tiana-P, teenycee and h50rookie. They have been so sweet to me, and without them this wouldn't have happened, so thank you so much!**

**See you soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**In Danger and In Love Part 2**

**Authors note: Hey guys! Thanks so much for all your reviews, follows and alerts, they really mean a whole lot to me. Anyway, I won't bother you with a big A/N, so off you go reading!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

Her phone is ringing.

"Hey," Kono greets, half paying attention to her cousin whilst running a deeper background check on Taylor. "You got anything?"

"Yeah." His tone is enough to make her still her movements.

"What is it?"

"The address I sent Steve, Taylor's last known address? It's a fake."

Kono frowns. "Ok. Can we find out his real one?"

"I already have it."

"Then what's the problem?" she snaps, impatience creeping into her voice.

Chin sighs on the other end of the line. "Steve isn't picking up his phone."

"Have you tried running a trace?"

"It's not on the grid." Chin says with an apprehensive tone.

Kono closes her eyes for a moment. "Chin. Send me the address."

"Kono-"

"Cuz, send me the address right _now_, I'm gonna call Danny."

She hangs up.

…

Steve wakes up with a pounding headache.

He opens his eyes with effort, blinking a few times to get used to the dim light in the room. There's only one window, but it's too high and doesn't allow him to look out and see if he recognizes the place. He winces as he tries to move, finding both his wrists and feet tied to the chair he's sitting on.

He looks around. The room is empty. His eyes swipe the place until he finds a door, letting through a crack the littlest bit of light. It's not enough for him to make out the rest of the room.

Pain shoots up his spine with a searing strength, and he seriously feels like someone's hammering away inside his head. He drops his head back, inhaling deeply. Where is he?

Steve figures he has a concussion. Probably from the blow he now remembers he got to the head. He didn't get to see who hit him, though. He growls as he tries to move his wrists, the rope cutting through the skin. He feels a trickle of blood running down his hand. He stops moving, and frowns.

The chair. It's a wooden chair. Old. It's creaking under his weight.

Steve shifts from side to side, a hint of a smile creeping into his features as he feels the legs of the chair give. He grounds his feet in the stone ground and makes a little jumping motion, and then again, hearing the wood snapping like a twig. He looks around again, the veins on his neck noticeable from the exertion, looking for something he can use to speed up the process. He finds nothing. He jumps again, and this time, he's sure the left leg of the chair just shifted.

He also feels the ropes tying his feet loosen a little. Whoever did this was _not _a professional.

But before he can try and get the ropes off, someone walks into the room.

…

"Danny!" Kono calls, pupils blown wide.

"What?" he asks, appearing from the back of the house. "What do you got?"

She merely nods her head in the direction of the stain.

"I'm gonna kill them." Danny announces, crouching down and observing the small pool of blood on the three steps leading to the porch. "Fuck, just-"

"You and me both." Kono says, nostrils flaring as she straightens up. "Chin's on his way, and he already called HPD. Cover me, ok?"

Danny nods, the idea of dissuading her from going in not even crossing his mind. He draws his gun, waiting for Kono to kick down the door. He knows he should be the one doing that, but he suspects her right cross isn't the only thing she can pull off perfectly.

Kono locks eyes with him, lifting one finger.

One

Two

…

"Wait!" Danny whispers urgently, making Kono jump back.

"What?" she asks in a serious tone.

But then she looks back, and sees it too. The drops of blood near the bench.

"Taylor did this." Kono swallows, getting back into position. "Those are probably Henry's. Come on, I'm not gonna let them get away with this."

Danny doesn't say another word.

…

"Taylor."

"Wow, I'm honored, Commander." He answers with a sneer, setting a chair in front of Steve's and sitting down. "No need to exchange pleasantries, then?"

Steve doesn't twitch.

"I apologize for the accommodations. This was the best we could find in such… short notice." John smiles. "Now, you wanna tell me what you were doing at that house, McGarrett?"

"You wanna tell me why you killed Watson?" Steve snaps back.

Taylor laughs. "Be careful there. No getting riddled up. Things might just… turn for the worse, for you." He says, all suave and calm and shit, nonchalantly pulling a knife from his jacket's inside pocket.

Steve doesn't even blink.

"So," John starts, eyeing the knife. "Back to my question. What were you doing at that house?"

"What am I doing here?" Steve glares at him.

"Better yet, I _know_ what you were doing there," Taylor completely ignores him, getting up from the chair. "Too bad that's gonna cost your precious life." He shoots him a cold smile.

Steve laughs. "You wish."

"Now," John starts, coming closer to him and retrieving a cell phone from his pocket. "I want you to call your team. Tell them the investigation is over."

"No."

"No?" John repeats, laughing. "Oh, you will, McGarrett." He comes even closer. "And then… I'm gonna kill you."

Steve chuckles, looking at him. "I don't care if you kill me."

John's eyes shine mercilessly. "Maybe you'd care a little more if it were, for example, your girlfriend… on the line?"

There's silence.

"You listen to me you fucker," Steve growls, "If you lay a _hand_ on her, I will personally bury you thirty feet under the ground."

Taylor laughs, cold and knowing, and shows him a picture of Steve and Kono.

His wallet. Steve _always _carries that in his wallet.

"You make the call," John makes sure Steve has a good look at the photo. "Or she dies."

…

"There's nothing here." Kono says, eyes wide. "They're not here. He…"

"Let's not jump to conclusions." Danny stops her, pinning her with a look.

She turns back to him? "Not jump to conclusions? They're not here, Danny! He was taken!"

"Kono-" Danny sighs, coming down the steps to meet her. "It doesn't mean that-"

The ringing of her phone interrupts them again.

"Chin?" she answers hurriedly, but no one speaks on the other end.

"Chin?" Kono repeats, checking the caller ID. "Who is this?"

"Kono…"

She laughs with relief. "Steve! Oh my God, are you ok?"

"Listen to me." He speaks, casting a glance at Taylor. "I'm ok. I'm ok, but we have to talk."

Kono frowns. "Where are you?"

"Listen." He hisses, closing his eyes. "These past ten weeks have been the best of my life. You remember that, alright?"

"Steve-"

"Kono, for the love of fucking God, listen to me. You know Mrs. Hunt, right, the lady that lives down the street, on that house that looks more like a mansion?"

She looks around. "Yeah."

"I borrowed her grill. Make sure you give it back, okay babe?"

"Steve…" she's about to cry. "Where are you?"

"It doesn't matter." He answers. Taylor's getting impatient. "You need to get the team off the case. Do it. And then-"

"Steve, what the fuck is going on?" Danny's grunt fills the phone, Kono apparently having put it on speaker. "What the hell man?"

"Call me when you close the case. You have one hour, guys. Close the case, and then call this number." Steve takes a deep breath. "I'll talk to you soon."

He hangs up.

"One hour, Commander." John smirks. "I'll be back in one hour."

The sound of the door closing is the last thing he hears.

Steve leans back on the chair. He breathes. It's gonna be ok.

….

Danny's still staring at the phone.

He takes a deep breath. "Ok. Ok. One thing at a time." He closes his eyes, pacing and coming to a stop in front of Kono, who seems to be lost in thought.

"You two have been dating?"

Kono doesn't say anything.

"Kono?" Danny snaps his fingers in front of her face. "Hello? We have a stubborn ass to save, you there?"

"It wasn't ten weeks." Kono murmurs.

"What?" Danny frowns.

"We haven't…" Kono swallows. "We haven't been dating for ten weeks. Maybe a month or so."

"Ok…" They have time to deal with the fact that they kept it from the team later. "Any chance he got it wrong?"

Kono shakes her head. "No." a smile suddenly appears on her features. "And Mrs. Hunt does _not_ live in a mansion. It's the smallest house in the street."

"Kono," Danny raises an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

"Call Chin," she says. "Have him search for mansions on a ten mile radius." She's already running for the car.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Danny shouts after her, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"It's a gut feeling!" She shouts back, and as soon as Danny gets in the car and makes the call, they're headed for HQ.

She'll explain it to the both of them later.

….

The seconds tick by in Steve's head. He's long ago given up on trying to break the chair, seeing as the damn thing won't crumble to pieces no matter how hard he tries, and so he's left to count the time.

He's pretty sure it's been half an hour.

Worries fill his head. Did Kono even get what he was trying to say? Should he have said goodbye, or I love you, or something stupid like that but that wouldn't imply wasting a fucking phone call on nothing? He might die, fine, but he'll be damned if Taylor lays a hand on her. He'll be taken down (by his team) before that happens.

And the seconds tick by.

And Steve worries.

And the silence is deafening.

And Steve starts doubting he'll make it out of here alive.

….

"You're sure this is the only one?" Kono asks again, heart racing in her chest. "Sure, sure?"

"Yes." Chin reassures her. "The only one."

Danny nods. "Ok. HPD will be here in two minutes. Chin, go inside from the back. Me and Kono will take the front."

Chin goes, shot gun ahead, and assumes position.

Danny and Kono go up the steps, quietly, eyeing the house in front of them. It's big, maybe three stories, but there doesn't seem to be movement inside.

He eyes her. "You ready?"

"Yeah." She says, looking at the door.

"He's gonna be alright."

She turns to look at Danny. "I know that."

Danny eyes her for a few more seconds before bringing his free hand up to his ear. "Chin, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Ok." Danny takes a deep breath. "On my count. One. Two."

"Three."

They get in just as HPD's sirens can be heard on the distance.

There's no one on the ground floor, to their surprise. No security, no rooms, nothing. It's just a huge entry hall with a flight of stairs that leads to the first floor.

Chin gets to them in no time, and quietly, they run up the steps.

Kono's heart is beating wildly against her ribs, and she fears someone else might hear it. She's breathing hard, but silently, her eyes sharp and body tense, ready to shoot the first guy that comes in front of her.

The first floor is nothing but a hallway. They separate, Danny and Kono going left, Chin going right. They check every room.

Again, there's _nothing_.

They stand there looking at each other for a moment before Kono spots a door on the side. She signals Danny, covering him, and he goes in.

There's someone in the room.

"5-0! Hands where I can see them!"

"Turn around!"

"Oh God, don't shoot!"

It's a woman. She looks oblivious to what's happening, turning around and dropping to her knees. "Who are you people?"

Danny steps forward, gun still raised. "We're 5-0. Who are you?"

"Christine Taylor." The woman answers, voice wavering.

"She's Taylor's wife."

"Yeah." Danny agrees, slapping the cuffs on her. "But we still have to take her."

"You got anything?" Chin comes into the room.

Danny turns around, Christine ahead of him. "Take her to the car. HPD should already be here, so take her to them and come back. We're gonna up."

Chin nods and takes the woman, going down the stairs with her and disappearing behind the door that was just kicked open.

"You good to go?" Danny asks.

"Yeah brah." Kono answers, leaving the room.

They go up the next flight of stairs.

And that's when all hell breaks loose.

…

The seconds tick by.

Slowly.

It's been over an hour.

And Steve doesn't hear a thing.

Until he does.

A commotion. Gun fire. Yells. People running. Oh God.

And fear grips his chest hard.

…

And the door is thrown open.

…

"You're bleeding!"

"Nice to see you too, jackass." Danny retorts, pulling a knife out of his back pocket. "Stand still."

He cuts the ropes on Steve's wrists first, noticing how he winces and rubs the sore and bleeding skin, and then his feet's, finally allowing him to stand.

"I was beginning to think you guys wouldn't make it." Steve says in what he means to come out as a joke, but in what actually comes out as something much more serious, as if he really was afraid they wouldn't get there in time.

"We've always saved your ass. You, on the other hand, have a lot to explain." Danny says, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "C'mon, follow me."

"Wait-" Steve stops him, grabbing his arm. "You were shot!"

"No shit." Danny scoffs. "It's just a scratch. It would really help if you got your hands off it." He suggests, glaring at Steve, who looks rather sheepish right about now. "We found at least a dozen of Taylor's men on the second floor. I got away with this. Kono, on the other end-"

"Is she ok?" Steve hurriedly asks, eyes widening. "Danny-"

"She's fine." Danny reassures him, peeking out the door. "We have to go. There are probably more men out there, so be careful." He warns, handing him his backup gun. "If you lose this, you're screwed."

"What happened with Kono?" Steve insists, a knot forming on his throat.

Danny sighs. "Don't worry. SWAT team got there before she lost too much blood. It was a deeper scratch than mine, on the leg. She'll be fine. I told SWAT to take care of the men- who, I might add, did _not_ stop shooting at us through the whole thing- and that I would come here looking for you."

Danny chooses that exact moment to step out of the room, eyes alert and checking the hallway. He doesn't see anyone.

They make the way back to the stairs, guns drawn. There's a tense atmosphere in the air, adrenaline rushing through their veins. Steve sincerely hopes it'll keep running through their veins for a long time, otherwise no one will shut Danny up when that _scratch_ really starts to hurt.

His jaw is set, finger ready to pull the trigger and eyes sharp, going back and forward, seeing if he can spot anyone. Danny's ahead of him, same posture as his, he's sure, even if he has his back to him, and once they get to the stairs, they go down, slowly.

It's no surprise when he sees two SWAT men running on the opposite direction of them, Steve assumes, going to check every room on the third floor.

After passing the hallway on the second floor, they lower their weapons. The place is surrounded by cops, so they have no need to be alert anymore. They go down the flight of stairs, and then the next one, until they're facing the front door.

"Hey, man," Steve stops Danny, making him turns towards him. "Taylor?" is all he asks.

Danny exhales. "SWAT found him." He looks him in the eyes. "He didn't surrender."

That's all the clarification Steve needs.

And an immense relief washes over him.

Because he's safe.

And so is _she_.

….

There are at least thirty officers outside the mansion, going in, coming out, arresting suspects, asking the paramedics to fill them in on the situation.

Kono's sitting on the back of an ambulance, not inside, much to Steve's relief, and she seems lost, looking everywhere uncomfortably and eyeing the white bandage draped over her right leg, on her thigh. The scratch of the bullet made a whole on her jeans, making it possible to drape the bandage underneath her jeans and still be able to see it. He clenches his fists, promising himself to beat the guy who did this to her into an actual pulp, and with large strides, heads towards her.

Kono catches his eye when he's about halfway to the ambulance and gets up immediately, worry washing over her face. She winces as she tried to walk towards him but does it anyway; trying to cover up the pain it causes her. She's limping slightly, but she doesn't really care when she gasps and feels herself be enveloped by his arms.

Steve's heart is racing, she feels it against her chest, although hers isn't really that slow either, and she wants to cry of relief by having him there, alive. God, he's alive.

"Kono," Steve says near her ear, a broken pant filled with emotions he doesn't even want to begin to analyze.

"You're such an idiot." She answers in a heavy breath, shaking her head against his shoulder. "Don't _ever_ do this to me again, do you hear me?" she pulls back, looking sharply into his eyes.

He gulps. They're in front of most of HPD. In front of Danny, Chin, God knows how many journalists and too curious people lurking around and trying to figure out what's happening. It still doesn't stop him in his tracks, his mouth crushing with hers in front of them all, the kiss so desperate and needy and wrecked he drowns in it.

"I'm not single," he pants for breath, pulling back. "I'm not, Kono-"

"Shh, just-" she stops him, closing her eyes. "We'll deal with it later."

"I'm sorry," he swallows, his throat dry, looking at her in the eyes, red and moist. "I'm so sorry."

Kono nods, managing a weak smile. "It's ok." she says, exhaling softly, trying to convince them both. "Don't worry."

He pulls her to his arms again, burying his face into her hair. "Let's go home." He takes a deep breath. "Please."

Kono inhales his scent, a sob escaping her throat, and nods. "Yeah."

They ignore the looks, the raised brows, the confusion on her cousin's features as they pass by him, making him stop in the middle of his talk with the police officer, momentarily, before continuing, although much more curt and harsh.

Kono doesn't have the strength to go explain every single thing to him right now, neither did she have the strength to do it when he sat beside her in the ambulance, and so she lets herself be guided by Steve's arm around her waist and gets into Danny's car (he'll just get a ride with Chin), Steve driving them away.

She's only 28 and she already feels she's too old for this.

But when Steve looks at her sideways, giving her a promising smile, she is compelled to smile back and realize… it's all worth it, after all.

It's worth it.

_He's_ worth it.

And her… _Ohana_, is worth it.

**THE END**

**Authors note: Ok guys, I hope you liked it! Drop a review if you have the time, and I have to thank Poisonedship, Sidalee, MyMelo, Teenycee, Tiana-P and H50rookie for their awesome support and ideas! Thanks so much!**

**Hope to see you in my next story! Bye guys!**


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